An idea was thrown out about moving Brady Rediger to a middle infield position from catcher on West Salem High School's baseball team.

Instead, he threw out a lot of runners.

"When it came down to it, we can't do that because he's going to stop runs by stopping people running on him," West Salem coach Micah Tiffin said.

West Salem's starting senior catcher caught 17 of 20 runners who attempted to steal a base.

With that kind of efficiency, opponents eventually gave up on running against the Titans.

"It's a team effort and I had a lot of chances to throw people out," Rediger said. "A lot of people tested me, but yeah, quick feet has really helped me and getting the ball out as quick as possible."

Rediger's performance on the field has led to him being given a slew of awards: he's a first-team all-Central Valley Conference selection for the third-straight year, the CVC player of the year, a first-team Class 6A all-state selection and the Statesman Journal all-Mid-Valley baseball player of the year.

"Definitely there was a surprising factor to it," Rediger said. "I think I really worked hard for all this, family, coaches, teammates have helped build me up to this point and worked hard this baseball season and football season, especially coming back from that injury with my ankle, having a plate and eight screws in it now.

"It's not just me, it's the whole team, both football and baseball and I would really like to give them all credit, all my family and coaches, they've really helped me through all this, but it's super exciting and I've enjoyed all of my senior season with sports."

Tiffin theorizes that Rediger got the best traits of each of his parents.

From his mother, Chapman Elementary teacher Shannon Rediger, he got his academic prowess – a 4.0 grade point average and class valedictorian.

Rediger caught all but two games for the Titans, but he still put up huge numbers at the plate.

Hitting primarily out of the No. 3 spot, he batted .443 with a .524 on-base percentage and a .568 slugging percentage. He had 26 RBIs, scored 22 runs and hit six doubles.

"For a catcher who catches day in and day out, that's a big deal," Tiffin said. "That's impressive. Your legs are tired. I try to imagine what he could do if he had his legs under him more.

"The other part of that is he's a competitor. I think that intellect, combined with his fierce competitiveness, is a great asset."

Rediger did all of that despite a significant injury last summer.

While participating in a scrimmage with his American Legion team, the Demarini Dirtbags, early last summer, Rediger slid into second base with his right foot and heard "a huge popping sound" and his ankle bent back the wrong way.

"I went in, got X-rays, the doctor told me that I needed surgery, five days later I went in for surgery and now I have a plate about three or four inches long and eight screws," Rediger said. "Definitely been an experience, but I think it's helped me grow stronger.

"It was a bad injury, but I came back from it and I think I've grown stronger from it. It's probably stronger now because I have a plate there. That's always a positive. It's a little tender every once in a while on the outside."

That injury prevented him from playing much cornerback for West Salem's football team in the fall – he primarily played receiver and caught 61 passes for 780 yards and nine touchdowns – but Tiffin said by the time Rediger came out to play baseball that the injury was a non-issue.

While playing in his final game for West Salem – the Titans' 5-1 loss to Hillsboro in the first round of the 6A state playoffs, Redgier sustained a significant injury in his right hand.

While running the bases he took a cleat to his hand that required three double stitches.

But a few weeks after the injury he has come back strong, being named the Most Outstanding Player of the South team in last weekend's Oregon All-Star Series for baseball.

This week he's playing in the Les Schwab Bowl and is the only athlete to play in both all-star games this year.

He's played in a total of two games for his American Legion team, the Dirtbags, this season, equaling his total number of games with the team last season.

"There's going to be plenty more when we get back," he said. "There's definitely a lot of baseball left for this summer."

Rediger said his plan is to play football and baseball at Linfield, but that may change.

In college Rediger will team with his brother, Riley, on the Linfield baseball team.

The Rediger brothers were teammates at West Salem in Brady's sophomore and junior seasons, and he is eager to have that bond again with his brother.

"It was definitely fun, great experience," Brady said. "Actually I'm going to Linfield next year to play with him again so obviously you can tell I like playing with him.

"There were options to go to George Fox and stuff like that to play against him, but I wanted to play with him again and so I'm excited to get on the field with him and it should be a fun experience playing together."